The New Encyclopedia of Crochet Techniques: A Comprehensive Visual Guide to Traditional and Contemporary Techniques

The New Encyclopedia of Crochet Techniques A Comprehensive Visual Guide to Traditional and Contemporary Techniques Author: Jan Eaton ISBN-13: 9780762447497 ISBN-10: 0762447494 Publication Date: 10/9/2012 Publisher: Running Press Paperback 8.8 x 8.7 inches, 160 pages The New Encyclopedia of Crochet Techniques has all the essential tools and techniques for crochet in more than 400 diagrams and photographs, making it an invaluable guide for beginners and experienced crafters. Readers will discover new twists on the basics, and learn how to create complex-looking stitches, openwork and lace, multi-colored patterns, shaped motifs, Afghan squares, and much more. A 16-page gallery in the back of the book features a wide range of crochet items from designers around the world. ------------------------ Crochet is a process of creating textiles by using a crochet hook to interlock loops of yarn, thread, or strands of other materials. The name is derived from the French term crochet, meaning 'hook'. Hooks can be made from a variety of materials, such as metal, wood, bamboo, or plastic. The key difference between crochet and knitting, beyond the implements used for their production, is that each stitch in crochet is completed before the next one is begun, while knitting keeps many stitches open at a time. Some variant forms of crochet, such as Tunisian crochet and broomstick lace, do keep multiple crochet stitches open at a time. Knitted textiles survive from as early as the 11th century CE, but the first substantive evidence of crocheted fabric emerges in Europe during the 19th century. Earlier work identified as crochet was commonly made by nålebinding, a different looped yarn technique. The first known published instructions for crochet explicitly using that term to describe the craft in its present sense appeared in the Dutch magazine Penélopé in 1823. This includes a colour plate showing five styles of purse, of which three were intended to be crocheted with silk thread. The first is "simple open crochet" (crochet simple ajour), a mesh of chain-stitch arches. The second (illustrated here) starts in a semi-open form (demi jour), where chain-stitch arches alternate with equally long segments of slip-stitch crochet, and closes with a star made with "double-crochet stitches" (dubbelde hekelsteek: double-crochet in British terminology; single-crochet in US). The third purse is made entirely in double-crochet. The instructions prescribe the use of a tambour needle (as illustrated below) and introduce a number of decorative techniques.